While We Were in Crestone for Our Latest Workshop, We Got to See an Absolutely Awe-Inspiring Earthbag House Build.
As part of the workshop experience, we went on a tour of a nearby neighbor’s house that was under construction. Our jaws dropped when we saw the size of it and it turns out that almost all of it had been built by a lone builder, Andy.
In Colorado, they have access to scoria nearby. Scoria is volcanic rock that is lighter than dirt and has insulative properties because of the air bubbles within. Andy built with the larger earth bags (18″ x 30″). When full of dirt, that size of bag weighs about 100 lbs each–with the scoria, they are probably only 50 or 60 lbs, a yooj difference when one is moving thousands of bags! We used the smaller bags during the workshop and they were probably only 30 to 40 pounds when filled with scoria, instead of the usual 50 or 60 lbs! This is one of the factors that helped us almost get the walls finished in only four days.
Andy’s roof work blew me away. Look at all of the precision cuts that had to be made.
In the picture below, Andy is the guy pointing. Don’t tell him it’s rude to point. In fact, don’t try to tell him anything–just zip yer pie-hole and listen and you might learn something, dammit. If yer ever in Crestone, stop by and buy him a beer or a coffee or whatever the hell he wants, he deserves it. He said he built most of this ALONE, BY HIMSELF in the space of several months. That’s friggin INCREDIBLE, man! Respect!
Below, I leave you with a side view of the greenhouse area. Though I generally wouldn’t recommend starting with such a large project, some true badasses like Andy can. I will try to get an interview with Andy and some pictures of the finished house in the future.
Stay tuned true believers! Morgan.
